Brody ran out, and we stopped several steps short of the action. The large crowd was silent.
“Sheriff,” Deloris said, “this gentleman here let that bull loose on you. I got it all on video.”
Brody looked at Drench. “Is that right, Harry?”
He shrugged. “I figured the bull needed a little exercise. I’m an animal lover,” he sneered.
“I’m not in uniform. I don’t have my cuffs.”
I opened my purse and tossed him a set of handcuffs. Everyone turned to look at me.
“What?” I may have blushed a little.
He cuffed him and turned him around. “Harry Drench, you’re under arrest for unlawful endangerment and attempted murder.”
“That’s the least of his worries, Sheriff.”
It was Red’s voice. We turned to see Dimitri and Maggie walking out of the corral with their hands in the air. Red had his shotgun pressed into Dimitri’s back, and Smoke had the handle of a plunger pressed into Maggie’s. He held his finger to his lips to make sure we wouldn’t reveal his secret.
“What do you mean, Red?” Brody asked.
“It seems they’re all part of the scam to steal Paint Creek. Pretty stupid plan if you ask me.”
“Nobody asked you, old man. If just ten people paid us off, we’d be sitting pretty.”
“And they would have gotten away with it too,” I said with a smile, “if it weren’t for you meddling old folks!” Of course, the old folks were the only ones who didn’t know what I was talking about.
Drench looked at the woman. “Ma, the stupid-looking one has a plunger stuck in your back.”
“I know, sweetie; I’m a psychic. But the old bald one is pretty shaky and maybe a little trigger-happy.”
“We got a recording of them incriminating themselves about the whole thing, Sheriff,” Red said. “Cuff ’em.”
Everybody turned to look at me.
“What? I don’t have any more!”
Several Sheriff’s deputies pulled up to do the honors and bring the trio into the holding cell at Calhoun County Jail.
We were just getting ready to walk off the field when the judges posted the score for Brody’s ride. The crowd cheered like crazy when they saw the 94 posted on the board. I hugged my man and he swung me around.
“You crushed it,” I said into his ear.
Then Jake and Junior hoisted him up on their shoulders and carried him off the field. Reporters were rushing him with questions about the ride and about the Drench conspiracy. Fortunately, Deloris was there to shoo them all away, and we were able to slip into the parking lot and drive home.
Chapter Fourteen
The Sunday dinner rush usually quiets down early. The last diners left at 6:30, and I locked the door. Of course, there was still a bunch of us in there at the big table. My 18-inch trophy looked pretty small next to Brody’s four-foot behemoth. Zack was finishing the dishes, and Smoke brought out a pitcher of his beer from his “secret” keg in the refrigerator.
Jake, Junior, Red, and Smoke were on one side of the table, and Brody was at the end. Babs, Deloris and I were sitting on the other side.
“Where’s Liberty, Junior?” I asked him. “You two have been inseparable for a week or two.”
“Ah,” he said glumly, “she fell in love with some rodeo cowboy.”
My jaw dropped. She seemed so smitten by Junior...even just a couple hours ago. Then Junior gradually cracked a smile.
“Me!” he said. “I’m her rodeo cowboy. She and Ruby ran out after the rodeo to get ready to go out for dinner. Ruby was going to help her find a nice dress and put on her makeup.”
There was a rap at the front door. It was the two girls.
Ruby looked amazing in a red dress, which is normal for her, but I really had to smile when I saw Liberty. I smiled at Junior and opened the door for the big reveal. She looked runway-ready in a shimmering, rhinestone-studded black dress with a slanted hem and one strap. The deep neckline showed off her enviable assets, and her legs could have been carved out of marble. Her hair was up, and she had on a pair of black high-heel Roman sandals that wrapped up to her knee. She looked like a goddess.
“Junior, your date is here,” I said as she stood before the table.
“Where’s Lib...?”
Then his eyes popped and his jaw dropped. I thought he might cry. He stood up and held out his hand, and he led her to the chair next to him.
“Where’s Justin, Ruby?”
“Gone...with the wind,” she said. “He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me. I knew he would have to leave today. That’s why I didn’t want to get too involved.”
“You’re not old-fashioned...”
“Just practical,” she said.
Jake Junior and Senior left for dinner with Babs and Liberty, and the rest of us talked about the strange case of the Drench conspiracy.
“I still don’t have all the pieces straight in my mind,” I said. “If Harry Drench didn’t start the fire at the courthouse, then who did?”
“His mother,” Brody said, looking at a long email on his phone.
“Yeah, he did call her ‘ma.’ I was surprised.”
“Yup. Maggie DuChayne is Maggie Drench, wife of Dimitri Drench. She gave birth to Harry when she was 16. He’s 25 now.”
“So, they’re married? Then Dimitri just asked Sylvia out...”
“So he could get into the courthouse,” Deloris said.
Brody nodded. “That’s right. That bandage you got from her. The one you put on my finger when I cut it in the car?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s an off-brand, and the adhesive matched the sticky stuff on the door. Dimitri had the same brand in his trailer. He put it over the latch on the door when he went in with Sylvia Chambers.”
“I get it,” I said. “And then Maggie came in behind them and started the fire.”
“Oh!” Ruby interjected, “So then Harry must have gotten all those candies from his mom.”
Brody looked through the report. “That’s right. It was her fingerprint on the candy jar.”
“And it was her cowboy boots that had the mud on them from the fairgrounds, or the rodeo, I suppose too,” I conjectured. “The mud at the Deeds office did smell like horse hockey.” I smiled at Ruby.
“Correct,” Brody said, scrolling through the email from his office. “It was her boot. And, it looks like the bones match up with a skeleton stolen from a Junior College not far away in Indiana. That was where Dimitri’s last excavation job was.”
Red nodded, as the big picture emerged. “So when they got the Paint Creek contract, digging up the lots out back here, they remembered the old deed that was still in the family, so they concocted this cockamamie scheme to swindle the good folks of Paint Creek.”
Red reached into his back pocket and pulled out a yellowed old newspaper.
“This here’s the Calhoun Gazette, October 15, 1917.”
He opened it to the middle page and laid it in front of us all. The headline read: Harold Drench III Subdivides Paint Creek Acreage.
“The story says he divvied up the whole 4,000 acres, put ’em all up for sale, and incorporated the town. Says a few hundred buyers already purchased lots for three-hundred dollars each in the first month.”
Smoke pulled a paper out of his shirt pocket and unfolded it. “And here I got a copy of my grandpa’s deed, signed by Drench himself.”
“Sounds to me like we don’t have anything to worry about!” Ruby said, clasping her hands in excited relief.
“We should all go out and celebrate by going for dinner,” Brody said, rubbing his hands together. “I haven’t had a good meal in weeks!”
I stood up, around the corner of the table from him, and folded my arms. I gave him the stink eye and tapped my foot. “Oh, really, Sheriff Hayes...?”
His face went pale.
“It seems to me,” I said, “that you’ve had at least one meal here everyday this week. Smoke, have you been serving Sheriff
Hayes bad food?”
“No, ma’am. I give him the VIP treatment, then leanest cut of the roast, strained gravy...I even get out the hand mixer and whip the mashed potatoes for him, ’cause he’s such a fussy eater. He always raves about my meals, Mercy.”
I looked back at Brody, really trying to put him on the spot. “Well, Smoke, it seems that Brody doesn’t think you’ve been giving him good meals.”
“All right, all right. You know what I mean, Mercy. I haven’t had a steak.”
I smiled. “All right then! Steak it is! Who wants to go to the Hideaway?”
Everybody stood up and nodded, and we headed for the door.
Brody whispered to me, “Mercy, I’m not paying for everybody’s meals, you know.”
“Of course not, Brody. Just mine. Oh...and Smoke’s. I think you offended him.”
Ruby stuck her head between us. “What about me? I was offended too...you’re my best friend, Mercy. It was so hurtful!”
I looked at Brody and shrugged. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “You tell her, Brody. I don’t want to disappoint the girl. Look at that face.”
Brody looked at Ruby as we followed the last of the crew out the door, and I locked it.
“Ruby – no.”
“No problem, Brody. Mercy, would you like to ride with me, your best friend?”
“Of course, Ruby. We’ll save you a place, Brody. Tootles!”
We walked towards her car.
“Mercy, I don’t have a car here,” Brody howled.
I turned and waved at him. “Bye!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll buy yours too, Ruby.”
We turned around and smiled at him, and then we both gave him a big hug.
“But you’re buying your own drinks,” he said. “Both of you!”
MY GRANDMOTHER AND her church family put together a recipe book in 1950. My other grandmother was the President of the Ladies Homemaker Club in her hometown and they also put together a recipe book in about the same time period. Although the books are weathered with wear, I'm sure the recipes are still good today. Here are some of those recipes. Enjoy!
Persimmon Pudding
Ingredients:
2 cups persimmon pulp
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon melted butter
2 eggs
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 9x13 baking dish
Combine persimmon pulp, baking soda, sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl and stir well.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, milk and melted butter to the mixture. Stir to combine.
Pour into baking pan and bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes. The pudding will rise but will fall when removed from the oven.
HAM LOAF
2 pounds ground smoked ham
1 ½ pounds ground pork steak
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup cracker or bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Basting ingredients:
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard
½ cup water
½ cup vinegar
Mix ham loaf ingredients together and form into a loaf. You may put it into a loaf pan or set on a flat cookie sheet. Bake loaf in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours. Baste the loaf every half an hour. Allow the ham loaf to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.
Easy Sauerkraut Salad
Ingredients:
1 large package Sauerkraut
1 small jar chopped pimentos
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
Mix all ingredients together and let stand overnight.
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Old School Diner Cozy Mysteries
Murder at Stake
Murder Well Done
A Side Order of Deception
Murder, Basted and Barbecued
THE CURIOSITY SHOP Cozy Mysteries
The Curious Case of the Cursed Spectacles
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger
The Curious Case of the Cursed Looking Glass
THE WE’RE NOT DEAD Yet Club
Fetch a Pail of Murder
Wedding Bells and Death Knells
Murder or Bust
Pinched, Pilfered and a Pitchfork
A Hot Spot of Murder
WITCHY WOMEN OF COVEN Grove Series
THE WITCHING ON THE Wall
A Witching Well of Magic
Witching the Night Away
Witching There’s Another Way
Witching Your Life Away
Witching You Wouldn’t Go
Witching for a Miracle
TEASEN & PLEASEN HAIR Salon Series
A Hair Raising Blowout
Wash, Rinse, Die
Holiday Hooligans
Color Me Dead
False Nails & Tall Tales
CAESAR’S CREEK SERIES
A FROZEN SCOOP OF MURDER (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book One)
Death by Chocolate Sundae (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Two)
Soft Serve Secrets (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Three)
Ice Cream You Scream (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Four)
Double Dip Dilemma (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Five)
Melted Memories (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Six)
Triple Dip Debacle(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Seven)
Whipped Wedding Woes(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Eight)
A Sprinkle of Tropical Trouble(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Nine)
A Drizzle of Deception(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Ten)
SWEET HOME MYSTERY Series
Creamed at the Coffee Cabana (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book One)
A Caffeinated Crunch (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Two)
A Frothy Fiasco (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Three)
Punked by the Pumpkin(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Four)
Peppermint Pandemonium(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Five)
Expresso Messo(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Six)
A Cuppa Cruise Conundrum(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Seven)
The Brewing Bride(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Eight)
WHISPERING PINES MYSTERY Series
A Sinister Slice of Murder
Sanctum of Shadows (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
Curse of the Bloodstone Arrow (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
Fright Night at the Haunted Inn (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
MAD RIVER MYSTERY SERIES
A Wicked Whack
A Prickly Predicament
A Malevolent Menace
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